In our case, Mr. Knafler exercised his discretion, and chose to proceed and try to promote the rights he would receive in the properties in France.
- And what about the damages that Mr. Knepfler claims he was incurred? In this regard, "it has already been held that 'in a case where the injured party is interested in continuing to fulfill the contract, and chooses not to exercise the remedy of cancellation, this does not deprive him of the right to claim compensation for damages caused to him as a result of the deception, whether for lack of good faith in the negotiations, or by virtue of a cause of action.'" in paragraph 18).
As stated, Mr. Knepfler argues that Mr. Nehemiah should be liable for damages for the tort of negligence and the tort of breach of statutory duty, but as we will see immediately, he was unable to establish such liability for either one or the other.
Negligence on the part of Mr. Knepfler was not established in view of the lack of a causal connection between the alleged damages and the conduct attributed to Mr. Nehemiah.
- "A condition for imposing tortious liability is the existence of a causal connection between the tortious conduct and the damage" (Ariel Porat, Torts 317 (Vol. 1; 2013). This is the case in general and so in the tort of negligence. And as the Honorable Justice Mintz ruled, "Liability in torts for the tort of negligence will arise only when there is a causal connection between the tort and the damages actually caused. The examination of the element of the factual connection consists of two stages: in the first stage, the existence of a factual causal connection must be examined, which exists when it is found that the negligent conduct constitutes a 'cause without which there is no cause' for the damage caused to the injured party; In the second stage, if it is determined that there is such a factual causal connection, the existence of a legal causal connection must be examined - which is examined through a number of legal tests" (Civil Appeal 6715/20 Stark v. Sonino (published in Databases [Nevo] 2022, para. 15)).
- In our own case, we are at the threshold of the factual causal connection.
As stated, Mr. Knepfler was able to establish only a specific deception, which stemmed from the failure to disclose the dispute with the management company that had grown. However, this specific matter cannot affect Mr. Knafler's conduct in real time and explain it.